Meet the Microsoft Surface Studio and the Surface Dial—the latest tools providing enhanced workflow support for the AEC industry.

The release of the Microsoft Surface Studio and the Microsoft Surface Dial marks the culmination of a collaboration between technology giant Microsoft and Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) solutions leader Bluebeam, Inc. Called on by Microsoft to develop new solutions based on the Microsoft Surface Studio platform, Bluebeam development specialists began working to highlight the strengths of the new hardware and combine them with the efficiency of Bluebeam software within the AEC project-based marketplace.

“Collaboration is critical to succeeding within the AEC industry and when fully enabled with comprehensive digital solutions, it can push the limits of project performance,” explains Bluebeam President and CEO Richard Lee. “To enhance our solutions further, our Innovations team worked closely with Microsoft to create an integrated platform that will further improve project productivity across the industry.”

The Surface Studio’s display adjustment ability, which allows a user to work on the device like a tablet, provided Bluebeam Principal Engineer Peter Noyes with an opportunity to create a device integration that would take the user-friendly experience of Bluebeam Revu to the next level. “We were involved early on to collaboratively develop an integration to help bring this new technology to the AEC industry,” says Noyes. “Being brought in early allowed us the freedom to put a couple of different iterations into our development.”

Using the Surface Dial on the screen of the Surface Studio to manipulate digital PDFs in Bluebeam Revu adds a new dimension within the workflows already familiar to users of the program and shows promising potential for the AEC user base that is already used to working in Revu on the Microsoft Surface line of tablet devices.

Bluebeam embraced the opportunity to work with like-minded Microsoft as part of both firms’ continuous efforts to enhance productivity. “We’re delighted to work with Microsoft,” explains Bluebeam CTO Don Jacob. “Microsoft’s approach to reimagining hardware has really resonated with us. It’s inspired us to extend our software to support the unique aspects of the Surface Studio and Surface Dial in a way that helps people focus on getting their work done. In many ways we feel like kindred spirits—as they are innovating the hardware, we are innovating our software and creating new solutions to help our customers do what they do better.”

The potential of this hardware-software relationship looms large for both companies. “These are the relationships we dream of, where we both work in tandem to facilitate the ultimate need of a shared customer,” echoes Bluebeam Senior Manager of Strategic Development Matthew Gotterer. “Microsoft came to us as a market leader for the AEC industry to better understand our customers’ needs and they wanted our software to be just as much a part of the conversation as their hardware, resulting in a truly synergistic effort which will optimise workflows for AEC and benefit our customers.”

Stay tuned for further developments.

For a look into how Revu can help your project based workflows, click here.